Halogen MR16 bulbs come in 120V AC with G8 wide pin spacingThe main advantage of using Line Voltage (120V) MR16 bulbs is that housings are far less expensive because there is no need for a transformer. Also, dimmers and other control equipment are less expensive for these type of lamps. Standard incandescent dimmers can be used with these bulbs which you can eaisly find at local home depot or lowes. The 120V type MR16 bulbs use an aluminized reflector and therefore produce about the same amount of heat as a 50W PAR reflector bulb. They are very great lamps and produce substantial amount of light in any part of your home.

The light source of MR type bulbs is a single-ended quartz halogen filament capsule. The reflective coating of MR16 lamps can be either dichroic or aluminum. A dichroic coating is thin, multi-layer dielectric (non-metallic film) that allows infrared radiation (heat) from the filament capsule to pass through the reflector while it reflects visible radiation light forward. An aluminum coating is a thin film of aluminum that, unlike the dichroic coating, it reflects infrared & visible radiation. There are MR16 bulbs that have a cover glass on the front end of the reflector. This cover is a safety measure designed to contain any broken fragments in case the lamp shatters when it fails.